Africa

For other uses, see Africa (disambiguation).

Africa
Area30,370,000 km2 (11,730,000 sq mi)  (2nd)
Population1,393,676,444[1][2] (2021; 2nd)
Population density46.1/km2 (119.4/sq mi) (2021)
GDP (PPP)$8.05 trillion (2022 est; 4th)[3]
GDP (nominal)$2.96 trillion (2022 est; 5th)[4]
GDP per capita$2,180 (Nominal; 2022 est; 6th)[5]
Religions
DemonymAfrican
Countries54 recognized states, 2 partially recognized states, 4 dependent territories
Dependencies
Internal (6+1 disputed)
Languages1250–3000 native languages
Time zonesUTC-1 to UTC+4
Largest citiesLargest urban areas:
^ A: African people often combine the practice of their traditional beliefs with the practice of Abrahamic religions[7][8]
The size of Africa compared to other continents

Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surface area.[9] With nearly 1.4 billion people as of 2021, it accounts for about 18% of the world's human population. Africa's population is the youngest among all the continents;[10][11] the median age in 2012 was 19.7, when the worldwide median age was 30.4.[12] Based on 2024 projections, Africa's population will reach 3.8 billion people by 2099.[13] Africa is the least wealthy inhabited continent per capita and second-least wealthy by total wealth, ahead of Oceania. Scholars have attributed this to different factors including geography, climate,[14] corruption,[14] colonialism, the Cold War,[15][16] and neocolonialism. Despite this low concentration of wealth, recent economic expansion and a large and young population make Africa an important economic market in the broader global context. Africa has a large quantity of natural resources and food resources, including diamonds, sugar, salt, gold, iron, cobalt, uranium, copper, bauxite, silver, petroleum, natural gas, cocoa beans, and tropical fruit.

The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Arabian Plate and the Gulf of Aqaba to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos. It contains 54 fully recognised sovereign states, eight cities and islands that are part of non-African states, and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. This count does not include Malta and Sicily, which are geologically part of the African continent. Algeria is Africa's largest country by area, and Nigeria is its largest by population. African nations cooperate through the establishment of the African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa.

Africa straddles the equator and the prime meridian. It is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to the southern temperate zones.[17] The majority of the continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere, with a substantial portion and a number of countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, except for a large part of Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya and Egypt, the northern tip of Mauritania, and the entire territories of Morocco, Ceuta, Melilla, and Tunisia, which in turn are located above the tropic of Cancer, in the northern temperate zone. In the other extreme of the continent, southern Namibia, southern Botswana, great parts of South Africa, the entire territories of Lesotho and Eswatini and the southern tips of Mozambique and Madagascar are located below the tropic of Capricorn, in the southern temperate zone.

Africa is highly biodiverse;[18] it is the continent with the largest number of megafauna species, as it was least affected by the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. However, Africa also is heavily affected by a wide range of environmental issues, including desertification, deforestation, water scarcity, and pollution. These entrenched environmental concerns are expected to worsen as climate change impacts Africa. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified Africa as the continent most vulnerable to climate change.[19][20]

The history of Africa is long, complex, and varied, and has often been under-appreciated by the global historical community.[21] In African societies the oral word is revered, and they have generally recorded their history via oral tradition, which has led anthropologists to term them oral civilisations, contrasted with literate civilisations which pride the written word.[22]: 142–143  During the colonial period, oral sources were deprecated by European historians, which gave them the impression Africa had no recorded history. African historiography became organized at the academic level in the mid-20th century, and saw a movement towards utilising oral sources in a multidisciplinary approach, culminating in the General History of Africa, edited by specialists from across the continent.

Africa, particularly Eastern Africa, is widely accepted to be the place of origin of humans and the Hominidae clade, also known as the great apes. The earliest hominids and their ancestors have been dated to around 7 million years ago, and Homo sapiens (modern human) are believed to have originated in Africa 350,000 to 260,000 years ago.[a] Africa is also considered by anthropologists to be the most genetically diverse continent as a result of being the longest inhabited.[29][30][31] In the 4th and 3rd millennia BC Ancient Egypt, Kerma, Punt, and the Tichitt Tradition emerged in North, East and West Africa, while from 4000 BC until 1000 AD the Bantu expansion was substantial in laying the foundations for societies and states in Central, East, and Southern Africa. Some African empires include Wagadu, Mali, Songhai, Sokoto, Ife, Benin, Asante, the Fatimids, Almoravids, Almohads, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Kongo, Mwene Muji, Luba, Lunda, Kitara, Aksum, Ethiopia, Adal, Ajuran, Kilwa, Sakalava, Imerina, Maravi, Mutapa, Rozvi, Mthwakazi, and Zulu. Slave trades created various diasporas, especially in the Americas. From the late 19th century to early 20th century, driven by the Second Industrial Revolution, most of Africa was rapidly conquered and colonised by European nations, save for Ethiopia and Liberia.[32] European rule had significant impacts on Africa's societies, and colonies were maintained for the purpose of economic exploitation and extraction of natural resources. Most present states emerged from a process of decolonisation following World War II, and established the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, the predecessor to the African Union.[33] The nascent countries decided to keep their colonial borders, with traditional power structures used in governance to varying degrees.

  1. ^ "World Population Prospects 2022". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  2. ^ "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  3. ^ "GDP PPP, current prices". International Monetary Fund. 2022. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  4. ^ "GDP Nominal, current prices". International Monetary Fund. 2022. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Nominal GDP per capita". International Monetary Fund. 2022. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, African Christianity, 2020". 18 March 2020. Archived from the original on 3 May 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  7. ^ Mbiti, John S (1992). Introduction to African religion. East African Publishers. ISBN 9780435940027. When Africans are converted to other religions, they often mix their traditional religion with the one to which they are converted. In this way they are not losing something valuable, but are gaining something from both religious customs
  8. ^ Riggs, Thomas (2006). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices: Religions and denominations. Thomson Gale. p. 1. ISBN 9780787666125. Although a large proportion of Africans have converted to Islam an Christianity, these two world religions have been assimilated into African culture, and many African Christians and Muslims maintain traditional spiritual beliefs
  9. ^ Sayre, April Pulley (1999), Africa, Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 0-7613-1367-2.
  10. ^ Swanson, Ana (17 August 2015). "5 ways the world will look dramatically different in 2100". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
  11. ^ Harry, Njideka U. (11 September 2013). "African Youth, Innovation and the Changing Society". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 20 September 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  12. ^ Janneh, Abdoulie (April 2012). "item, 4 of the provisional agenda – General debate on national experience in population matters: adolescents and youth" (PDF). United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  13. ^ "Population by world region". Our World in Data. 11 July 2024. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  14. ^ a b Collier, Paul; Gunning, Jan Willem (1 August 1999). "Why Has Africa Grown Slowly?". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 13 (3): 3–22. doi:10.1257/jep.13.3.3. ISSN 0895-3309.
  15. ^ Alemazung, Joy Asongazoh (1 September 2010). "Post-colonial colonialism: an analysis of international factors and actors marring African socio-economic and political development" (PDF). Journal of Pan African Studies. 3 (10): 62–85. S2CID 140806396. Gale A306596751. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  16. ^ Bayeh, Endalcachew (February 2015). "The political and economic legacy of colonialism in the post-independence African states". International Journal in Commerce, IT & Social Sciences. 2 (2): 89–93. doi:10.4000/poldev.78. S2CID 198939744. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  17. ^ "Africa. General info". Visual Geography. Archived from the original on 24 April 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2007.
  18. ^ Studies, the Africa Center for Strategic. "African Biodiversity Loss Raises Risk to Human Security". Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Archived from the original on 12 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  19. ^ Schneider, S. H.; et al. (2007). "19.3.3 Regional vulnerabilities". In Parry, M.L.; et al. (eds.). Chapter 19: Assessing Key Vulnerabilities and the Risk from Climate Change. Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability: contribution of Working Group II to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press (CUP): Cambridge, UK: Print version: CUP. This version: IPCC website. ISBN 978-0-521-88010-7. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  20. ^ Niang, I., O.C. Ruppel, M.A. Abdrabo, A. Essel, C. Lennard, J. Padgham, and P. Urquhart, "2014: Africa". In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part B: Regional Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Barros, V.R., C.B. Field, D.J. Dokken et al. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, and New York, pp. 1199–1265. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap22_FINAL.pdf, Archived 19 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine.
  21. ^ "One of Africa's best kept secrets – its history". BBC News. 1 July 2017. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  22. ^ Vansina, Jan (1981). "Oral tradition and its methodology". General History of Africa: Volume 1. UNESCO Publishing.
  23. ^ "Homo sapiens: University of Utah News Release: 16 February 2005". Archived from the original on 24 October 2007.
  24. ^ Schlebusch, Carina M; Malmström, Helena; Günther, Torsten; Sjödin, Per; Coutinho, Alexandra; Edlund, Hanna; Munters, Arielle R; Vicente, Mário; Steyn, Maryna; Soodyall, Himla; Lombard, Marlize; Jakobsson, Mattias (2017). "Southern African ancient genomes estimate modern human divergence to 350,000 to 260,000 years ago". Science. 358 (6363): 652–655. Bibcode:2017Sci...358..652S. doi:10.1126/science.aao6266. PMID 28971970.
  25. ^ Sample, Ian (7 June 2017). "Oldest Homo sapiens bones ever found shake foundations of the human story". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  26. ^ Zimmer, Carl (10 September 2019). "Scientists Find the Skull of Humanity's Ancestor – on a Computer – By comparing fossils and CT scans, researchers say they have reconstructed the skull of the last common forebear of modern humans". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  27. ^ Mounier, Aurélien; Lahr, Marta (2019). "Deciphering African late middle Pleistocene hominin diversity and the origin of our species". Nature Communications. 10 (1): 3406. Bibcode:2019NatCo..10.3406M. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11213-w. PMC 6736881. PMID 31506422.
  28. ^ Vidal, Celine M.; Lane, Christine S.; Asfawrossen, Asrat; et al. (January 2022). "Age of the oldest known Homo sapiens from eastern Africa". Nature. 601 (7894): 579–583. Bibcode:2022Natur.601..579V. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04275-8. PMC 8791829. PMID 35022610.
  29. ^ "The genetic diversity in Africa is greater than in any other region in the world". 19 July 2018. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  30. ^ "New study confirms that Africans are the most genetically diverse people on Earth. And it claims to pinpoint our center of origin". Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  31. ^ "Africa is most genetically diverse continent, DNA study shows". 9 June 2009. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  32. ^ The Egba United Government, a government of the Egba people, was legally recognized by the British as independent until being annexed into the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria in 1914: Daly, Samuel Fury Childs (4 May 2019). "From Crime to Coercion: Policing Dissent in Abeokuta, Nigeria, 1900–1940". The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 47 (3): 474–489. doi:10.1080/03086534.2019.1576833. ISSN 0308-6534. S2CID 159124664. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  33. ^ Hargreaves, John D. (1996). Decolonization in Africa (2nd ed.). London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-24917-1. OCLC 33131573.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).